Israeli Jews
Israeli Jews ( , Yehudim Yisraelim) ( ), also known as Jewish Israelis, can refer to: *Israeli citizens or residents who are also of the Jewish faith or Jewish ethnicity.Israeli adherents of Judaism, or Israelis of ethnic Jewish heritage, including those with another religion or none at all born to Jewish parents. * Descendants of Israeli-Jewish emigrants. Israeli Jews are found mostly in Israel and the Western world, as well as many other countries worldwide, not necessarily only in Jewish communities. Israeli Jews mostly speak Hebrew and most follow at least some religious Jewish practices. Israel, the Jewish state, currently has almost half the world's Jews. The Jewish community in Israel is composed from all Jewish ethnic divisions, including Ashkenazi Jews, Sephardi Jews, Mizrahi Jews, Beta Israel, Bene Israel, and some converts. The Israeli Jewish community manifests a wide range of Jewish cultural traditions, as well as encompassing the full spectrum of religious observance, from the Haredi communities to the Hilonim Jewish communities who live a secular lifestyle. Despite the ongoing debate over the question of who is a Jew among Israeli Jews, the Jewish status of a person, which is considered a matter of 'nationality' by the Israeli authorities, is registered and controlled by the Israeli Ministry of the Interior, which requires a person to meet the halakhic definition to be registered as a 'Jew'. Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics estimated the Israeli Jewish population was 6,102,000 in December 2013 (75.2% of the total population). Depending on religious definitions and varying population data, Israel is home to the largest or second largest (after the United States) Jewish community in the world. An IDI Guttman Study of 2008 shows that a plurality of Israeli Jews (47%) identify themselves first as Jews and Israeli second, and that only 39% consider themselves first and foremost Israeli. Jews living in the region prior to the establishment of the State of Israel are commonly referred to in English as Palestinian Jews and in Hebrew as "HaYishuv HaYehudi Be'Eretz Yisra'el (The Jewish Community in the Land of Israel). The population consists of many ethnic groups, with a 2005 study finding that 61% of Israeli Jews had Mizrahi Jewish ancestry.Jews, Arabs, and Arab Jews: The Politics of Identity and Reproduction in Israel, Ducker, Clare Louise, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, Netherlands History 'Origins' Jews have long considered Palestine to be their homeland, even while living in the diaspora. According to the Hebrew Bible the connection to the Land of Israel began in The covenant of the pieces when the region, which it called the land of Canaan ( ), was promised to Abraham by God. Abraham settled in the region, where his son Isaac and grandson Jacob grew up with and their families. Later on, Jacob and his sons went to Egypt. Decades later their descendants were led out of Egypt by Moses and Aaron, given the Tablets of Stone ( ), returned to the land of Canaan and conquered it under the leadership of Joshua. After the period of the judges, in which the Israelites did not have an organized leadership, the Kingdom of Israel was established, which constructed the first temple. This kingdom was soon split into two—the Kingdom of Judah and the Kingdom of Israel. After the destruction of these kingdoms and the destruction of the first Temple, the Israelites were exiled to Babylon. After about 70 years parts of the Israelites were permitted to return to the region and soon thereafter they built the Second Temple. Later on they established the Hasmonean Kingdom. The region was conquered by the Roman Empire in 63 BC. During the 2nd century CE a series of rebellions against the Roman Empire ended up with the destruction of the second temple and a general expulsion of Jews from their homeland. After the destructions of the Kingdom of Israel, Kingdum of Judah and even Roman Judea, the land of Palestine was fougtht over by several existing powers of the region, including the European Catholic crusaders and several and varying Muslim and Arab empires including that of the Umayyads, Rashiduns, Mamluks and the Ottomans. For much of Palestine's history, after the defeat of the European Crusaders to the Muslims, it experienced centuries of Muslim rule and influence. Thus, the land was populated by Arabs and its population adopted Arab culture. 'Zionists Movements and Palestine Partition' Following centuries of Diaspora, the 19th century saw the rise of Zionism ( ), the Jewish Nationalist Movement, a desire to see the creation of a Jewish State in Palestine, and significant immigration. Zionism remained a minority movement until the rise of Nazism in 1933 and the subsequent attempted extermination of the Jewish people in Nazi occupied areas of Europe in the Holocaust. In the late 19th century large numbers of Jews began moving to the Turkish and later British-controlled region. In 1917, the British endorsed a National Home for Jews in Mandate Palestine by passing the Balfour Declaration. The Jewish population in the region increased from 11% of the population in 1922 to 30% by 1940 In 1937, following the Great Arab Revolt, the partition plan proposed by the Peel Commission was rejected by the Palestinian Arab leadership, but accepted tentatively by Zionist leader David Ben-Gurion. As a result, in 1939, the British caved to Arab pressure because of support needed for World War II, abandoned the idea of a Jewish national homeland, and abandoned partition and negotiations in favour of the unilaterally-imposed White Paper of 1939, which capped Jewish immigration, and put subject to review under further agreement with the Arabs. Its other stated policy was to establish a system under which both Jews and Arabs were to share one government. The policy was viewed as a significant defeat for the Jewish side as it placed severe restrictions on Jewish immigration, while placing no restriction on Arab immigration. 'The State of Israel' In 1947, following increasing levels of violence, the British government withdrew from Mandatory Palestine. The 1947 UN Partition Plan split the mandate into two states, Jewish and Arab, giving about 56% of Mandatory Palestine to the Jewish state. Immediately following the adoption of the Partition Plan by the United Nations General Assembly, the Palestinian Arab leadership rejected the plan to create the as-yet-unnamed Jewish State and launched a guerrilla war. On May 14, 1948, one day before the end of the British Mandate of Palestine, the leaders of the Jewish community in Palestine led by prime minister David Ben-Gurion, made a declaration of independence, of the State of Israel though without any reference to defined borders.Harris, J. (1998) The Israeli Declaration of Independence The Journal of the Society for Textual Reasoning, Vol. 7 'Relations with Arab Counterparts' Ever since the 1948 creation of Israel, Israeli Jews have been in a generally negative to bitter-sweet relations with their Arab counterparts. In October 2000, a series of violent demonstrations occured in Israel's Arab villages. Jewish citizens counter-rioted these, especially in Nazareth in which they threw stones an Arabs and destroyed Arab property. Additionally, even many Israeli officials were known to propagate the bitterness against Arab citizens. Rafael Eitan, the former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces compared Arabs and Palestinians to "cockroaches". In the city of Hebron, there have been signs referring to Arabs as "sub-human". After the Gaza War, the Israel Defense Forces were criticized for making t-shirts supporting the killing of Arabs.Macintyre, Donald (2009-03-22). "Israel Military condemns soldiers' shocking T-shirts". The Independent (London). Archived from the original on 23 March 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-24. Also, despite the presence of intermarrige between Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs, this is highly opposed by Israel's conservative Jews who equate marriage to an Arab as "national treason". Many Jewish cities in Israel, including Pisgat Ze'ev, Petah Tikvah and Kiryat Gat have programs such as patrols and hotline services to report and prevent Jewish women from dating local Bedouins and Arabs nearby. Ovadia Yosef, Israel's most revered Sephardic Jewish rabbi referred to Arabs as "worms" and deserving of death.http://www.timesofisrael.com/for-arabs-ovadia-yosef-left-bitter-memories/ However, there were many positive times of relations between Jewish Israelis and Arab Israelis. Sick of war and civil wars, many Jews and Arabs of Israel have decided to cooperate. For example, the Galil Jewish-Arab School was established in 1998 by cooperatists known as the Hand in Hand: Center for Jewish Arab Education in Israel. Many Arab women have also become pretty dominant in the Israel Defense Forces. The number of mixed Jewish-Arab villages in Israel begins to grow. Additionally in order to appease Israel's Arab citizens and give them a closer tie to the state, the Israeli government made Arabic an official state language in Israel alongside Hebrew. Language While Hebrew and Arabic are Israel's official state languages, there are other languages spoke by Israel's Jews depending on their origin. While everybody speaks Hebrew, some Mizrahi Jews can also speak Arabic, while Asheknazi Jews can speak Russian. 'Hebrew' Most Israeli Jews are predominantly speakers of Modern Hebrew, or Israeli Hebrew. During the diaspora eras of the Jews, Hebrew was an archaic language used only inside the temple. Lithuanian Jewish linguist Eliezer ben-Yehuda developed a modern-day spoken form of Hebrew, although different from Biblical Hebrew. One of the most successful language revival programs, Hebrew ended up becoming an official language of Mandatory Palestine and eventually, Israel's first official state language. Today, all Israeli Jews and almost all Israelis (whether Jewish or Arab) are fluent Hebrew speakers. It is the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language that hastened the Zionist movements and the Aliyahs to Israel. Following these mass migrations of Jews to Israel, almost all of them abandoned their native languages at birth and tought their kids Modern Hebrew. Despite the centralized nature of Hebrew, different pronounciations and dialects of Modern Hebrew exist, especially among the three main Jewish groupings: Ashkenazis, Mizrahis and Sephardis. Mizrahi Hebrew and Sephardi Hebrew are often very similar. 'English' Thanks to decades-long ties with western powers such as the United States and the United Kingdom, English is Israel's most-spoken non-official language. Israeli Jews, and almost all other Israeli citizens are fluent and can understand English. Alongside Hebrew and Arabic, signs in Israel also contain English translations. Secular Israelis also have a great knowledge and possession of English. 'Russian' Israel is also Russophone. Unlike the other Jewish migrants, who tended to lose their native languages - many Jews (mostly Ashkenazi and a few Mizrahis) from the former Soviet Union did not. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1992, a mass influx of Jews from Russia and other former Soviet territory flooded Israel taking with them, the Russian language. It is not uncommon to hear Russian being spoken in Israel, as it is the second most-spoken non-official language in Israel. Some Russians who migrate to Israel even deny being tought Hebrew, and do not speak Hebrew either. Israel contains the world's third-largest Russian-speaking population outside of the former Soviet Union. The cities of Ashdod, Rishon LeZion contain most of Israel's Russian-speaking communities, especially in Rishon LeZion where it is much more common language on the streets than Hebrew. With many Israeli Jews from the former Soviet Union, Russian is still tought to their children as these Jews try to preserve their Russian culture and background. Even with non-Russian speakers in Israel, the Hebrew spoken by Ashkenazi Jews contain a Russian sub-stratum and influence. 'Arabic' Arabic is mostly spoken by the Mizrahi Jewish elders, and many Israeli politicians who migrated from Arab nations. Arabic is one of Israel's official state languages, alongside Hebrew and also a Semitic language. Native speakers of Arabic in Israel speak or either spoke the dialect known as Judeo-Arabic, the Jewish dialect of Arabic that was written in Hebrew script. Like the tendancy of other olim (those who make aliyah), spoken Arabic among the Jews did not thrive in Israel and their kids learned Hebrew. However, today many Israeli Jewish musicians and artists - mostly Yemenite Jews, have retained fluency in Arabic and sing their songs in Arabic alongside Hebrew. This has allowed relations to soften between not only Jews and Arabs, but even with Arabs outside of Israel. Many Israeli Jews have better perceptions of Arabic than Yiddish, largely due to the fact that Arabs and Jews are related. However, Jewish perceptions on Arabic do not compare to that of Russian. Religion 'Orthodox Judaism' The majority of Israeli Jews are observant Jews. The Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur ( )) is honored as a national holiday in Israel, when the entire nation almost goes completely silent. Streets are often found empty on Yom Kippur, which is the holiest day in Judaism and of the Hebrew calendar. Also, Sabbath laws prohibit Jews from working. Devout and Orthodox Jews in Israel are known as Haredim ''( ). The two most predominant factions of Judaism that exist in Israel are the Sephardic and Ashkenazi rites. Both of these rites and other sections of Judaism are led by Chief Rabbis. Despite the predominance of Jewish influence in Israel's government, Judaism is not the state religion of Israel, it has none. 'Hilonism' There are also Israeli Jews who are Jewish by ethnicity, but do not follow Judaism. These are knowm as the ''Hilonim ( ) or Hilon, and they live a secular lifestyle. Secularism has been predominant in the history of Jewish people as an ethnicity and a nation, especially those that existed in Russia. Despite the Biblical history of Israel, the State of Israel is a secular state that guarantees freedom of religion. Theodore Herzl, the father of a vision of a Jewish state was a secular. About 42% of Israelis are considered secular, regardless of belief in a God or not. Anybody with a Jewish ethnic ancestor can migrate to Israel, regardless of Halakha (Jewish) laws. Some of Israel's most prominent figures were secularists and atheists. David Ben-Gurion ( ) - the founder of the State of Israel was an atheist and Amos Oz ( ), considered Israel's national poet and philosopher is also an atheist and a secularist. Cuisine Israeli Jewish cuisine contains a diverse fushion of diaspora influence and of the neighboring local Arab and Palestinian cuisine. As expected, pork and shellfish are absent in the diet of Israeli Jews due to Jewish food and moral laws known as Kosher ( kashrut). The food of the Ashkenazi Jews include popular dishes from countries like Russia, Germany and Poland, those of the Mizrahis and Sephardis are Arab dishes. Fish is also a part of Israeli cuisine, as Jewish love of fish has dated back millenia when kosher meat was not always available. 'Ashkenazi Cuisine' The State of Israel was found by Ashkenazis. The Ashknenazi olim Jews brought with them popular dishes from Central and Eastern Europe - and are mostly well-renowned for their desserts and deep-fried foods which become evident during Israel's holidays. Sufghaniyot ''( ) or in singular form ''sufganiyah ''( ) is a deep-fried dougnut (pastries originating from Germany) eaten during the Jewish feast of Hannukah. The Jews had a popular tradition of eating deep-fried foods in oil, due to the religious signiificance of oil during Hannukah. ''Latkes ''are popular deep-fried potato pancakes. ''Challah ''( ) is a Sabbath pastry. ''Gefilte fish ( ) ( ) is a dish made from a poached mixture of ground boned fish, such as carp, whitefish or pike, which is typically eaten as an appetizer. Notable Israeli Jews See Also *Israelis *Jews *Arab Israelis